Page:Margaret Fuller by Howe, Julia Ward, Ed. (1883).djvu/179

164 throneless royalty. The Duchesse de Berri and her son had each a palace on the Grand Canal. A queen of another sort, Taglioni, here consoled herself for the quiet of her retirement from the stage. Margaret had the pleasure of an outside view of the fête given by the royal Duchess in commemoration of her son's birthday. The aged Duchessc d'Angeulème came from Vienna to be present on the occasion.

"Twas a scene of fairy-land, the palace full of light, so that from the canal could be seen cven the pictures on the walls. Landing from the gondolas, the elegantly-dressed ladies and gentlemen seemed to rise from the water. We also saw them glide up the great stair, rustling their plumes, and in the reception-room make and receive the customary grimaces." A fine band of music completed the attractions of the scene. Margaret, listening and looking hard by, “thought of the Stuarts, Bourbons, and Bonapartes in Italy, and offered up a prayer that other names might be added to the list, and other princes, more rich in blood than in brain, might come to enjoy a perpetual villeggiatura in Italy.'

From Venice Margaret journcycdon to Milan, stopping on the way at Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, Lago di Garda, and Brescia. Theso ten days of travel opened to her long vistas of historic study, delightful to contemplate, cven if hopeless to explore fully. No ten days of her previous life, she is sure, ever brought her so far in this direction. In approaching Milan her thoughts reverted to the “Promessi Sposi.” 'Nearly asleep for a moment, she heard the sound of waters, and started up to ask, “Is that the Adda?” She had guessed rightly. The authorship of this classic work seemed to her to secure to its writer, Manzoni, the right